ABOUT

Faculty Introduction

History

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King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) founded Yantara Suksa School of King Chulalongkorn’s Civil Service School on June 1, 1913. Chulalongkorn University was later established by merging the Civil Service School and the Medical School, and Yantara Suksa School became the Faculty of Engineering.

The faculty originally provided three-year education in engineering, which led to Diplomas in Engineering. In the 1930’s three departments-Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering-were established and the university conferred its first Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1935. The Master of Engineering degrees in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering were first offered in 1941, but were temporarily suspended during World War II, and were resumed in 1954.

During 1959-1971, the faculty hosted the SEATO Graduate School of Engineering, which later became the Asian Institute of Technology and was moved to Rangsit, Pathum Thani Province.

Under the Colombo Plan in 1964, several experts from the United Kingdom helped setup graduate diploma programs in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. Then in 1965, the faculty started a supplementary undergraduate study program and a graduate diploma program in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. More departments were established: Metallurgical Engineering (1974), Computer Engineering (1975), and Department of Nuclear Technology (1975).

The faculty continually reached out to foreign cooperation. Toulouse University (France), for example, assisted in organizing basic research in material sciences in three departments: Civil, Environmental, and Electrical Engineering. In 1975, the French Government then provided a financial aid to set up a semiconductor device research laboratory in Electrical Engineering Department.

In 1976, Chemical Engineering Department was established. The Engineering Institute for Research and Development was established in 1978. In 1983, the faculty established its Engineering Computer Center. Later in 1987, the National Research Council of Thailand, Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment in cooperation with Metal Mining Agency of Japan and the Faculty of Engineering jointly constructed a pilot plant at the Department of Mining Engineering and Geology for further study and research which led to a recovery of rare metal minerals from tin tailing.

Other establishments in 1987 were: Industrial Instrumentation Laboratory, Lightning Research Institute, and Electrical Design Laboratory. In 1988, the Department of Sanitary Engineering was renamed to the Department of Environmental Engineering.

In 1990, two extramural master programs on Computer Engineering and Chemical Engineering were launched. A Ph.D. program in Chemical Engineering was also established in 1990.

In 1991, the Department of Water Resources Engineering was established and the Department of Mining was renamed the Department of Mining and Petroleum Engineering.

In 1992, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) donated approximately 140 million baht worth of modem equipments and instruments; CAD/CAM for engineering design, robotic and CNC machines for precision engineering, ESCA and Auger spectroscopy for surface analysis and Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) for nano-electronics. In 1995, a cooperation in nuclear technology with Canada was initiated. In the same year, the Electric Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) donated 169.9 million bath to establish a Center of Excellence for Electrical Power Technology.

In 1996, two Ph.D. programs on Environmental Engineering and Metallurgical Engineering were initiated. A joint master program on Manufacturing System Engineering and Engineering Management between Chulalongkorn University and University of Warwick, U.K. was established under an operation of the Regional Center on Manufacturing System Engineering. Two new doctoral degrees in nuclear technology and computer engineering were started in 1997 and 1998 respectively.